Technical sheet
3 – FC Barcelona: Cata Coll; Ona Batlle (Vicky López, min. 87), Irene Paredes, Mapi León, Esmee Brugts ; Aitana Bonmatí (Jana Fernández, min. 87), Walsh (Kika Nazareth, min. 74), Patri Guijarro ; Salma Paralluelo (Rolfö, min. 74), Ewa Pajor, Clàudia Pina (Putellas, min. 67).
0 – Manchester City: Keating; Kerstin Casparij, Kennedy, Laia Alexandri, Leila Ouahabi; Blindside (Lily Murphy, 60 min.), Yui Hasegawa, Jill Roord; Mary Fowler, Jess Park (Coombs, min. 81), Fujino.
Buts : 1-0 M.44 : Pina. 2-0, M. 57 : None. 3-0, M.69 : Alexia.
Referee: Jelena Cvetković (SRB) warned Casparij with a yellow card for Manchester City.
Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium (Barcelona). 29,007 spectators.
–Efe–
The FC Barcelona offered a demonstration of play by winning 3-0 against Manchester City during the last match of the group stage of the Champions Leaguethus taking first place in the group to qualify for the quarter-finals.
Although both teams were already assured of their qualification, the Blaugrana needed to win this match by at least two goals after losing 2-0 in the first meeting.
The goals took a while to arrive and the final score does not reflect the domination displayed by the reigning champions, who thus avenged their initial defeat.
The team led by Pere Romeu constantly controlled the match, but encountered adversity with the City goalkeeper, Khiara Keatingwho had to intervene several times in the first minutes.
All Barça attackers had chances in the first half, with particular mention for the surges Esmee Brugts on the left flank.
Despite this, in the 37th minute, the Barcelona supporters, present in large numbers at the Stade Olympique Lluís Companysalmost saw their team concede a goal, when Jill Roord hit the post with a long shot.
While it seemed that Keating and the lack of precision of the Barça players would prevent the opening score in the first half, Claudia Pina took advantage of a deflected ball inside the box to score just before the break.
Assault after the break
Salma Paralluelo (l.) and Leila Ouahabi compete for a ball at Barça – City in Champions AP Photo/Joan Monfort
After the restart, the home team intensified their offensive, and in the 20th second, Pina already distinguished herself with an opportunity. The attack became a real assault, it was only a matter of time before the second goal fell. It was Aitana Bonmatí who scored after receiving a filtered pass from Ewa Pajordodging pressure from her former teammate Leila Ouahabi to deceive a Keating who could do nothing more. Barça then led 2-0 and dominated the penalty shootout statistics with a score of 15 to 1.
Shortly after, Aitana could have made the score worse if she had not hit the crossbar. However, the serenity came from Alexia Putellasjust returned after three weeks of absence due to injury. The Barça Women’s legend scored a shot from outside the area, thus validating first place in Group D.
In this way, the Catalan club becomes the only one to have finished at the top of its groups during the four editions of the Champions League in this format.
They will now have to wait until February 7 to find out their opponent in the quarter-finals, who will be one of the runners-up in the other groups, i.e. Wolfsburg, Real Madrid et Arsenal or Bayern Munich (depending on the match to follow in London).
Overall, FC Barcelona demonstrated its strength and determination in the face of the challenge from Manchester City, validating a convincing progression to the quarter-finals of the Champions League. This match also raises questions about the continued performance of women’s teams at the highest level, and makes us think about what this momentum could mean for the future of women’s football globally.
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